Bruce Lindsay undertook a degree in business studies at Sheffield Polytechnic, leaving the course at the end of an unspectacular first year. He moved on to study psychology at Sheffield University until he was invited to leave at the end of an equally unspectacular first year (returning twenty years later as an external examiner). He then became a nurse, spending 35 years in a variety of health care roles, gaining a social studies degree part-time at Sheffield Poly, and eventually achieving a PhD in the history of child health care from the University of East Anglia. He has written and/or edited a range of books and articles on health care and related research methods, as well as writing extensively on jazz, blues, folk and prog rock for a variety of publications after ending a brief and unspectacular period as a bar band bass player.

His first history book for a general readership – Shellac and Swing! a social history of the gramophone in Britain – was published by Fonthill Media in early 2020. His latest social history book – Two Bold Singermen and the English Folk Revival: the lives, song traditions and legacies of Sam Larner and Harry Cox – is due for publication by Equinox Publications in October 2020.